In my experience, office Friday lunches have revolved around mainly bland chain pubs where you can pre-order to avoid going over your strict 60min break but the food is less than inspirational. Turns out this doesn’t have to be the case.
The Oat Hill in Market Harborough is a lovely pub/ restaurant and a break from what I’ve always found is the norm. Three of us recently headed there in the search for somewhere nice to lunch and we were pleasantly surprised. 
We walked in to a dark and stylish space, clearly renovated to a high standard and art deco in its feel with dark leather couches, open fires and rich fabrics. For lunch, we went through to the dining room at the back of the building which again, had a bit of a 1920’s vibe to it with lined wallpaper, dado rails and big art prints, not to mention the rather quirky clock display which I loved!
There were a couple of other tables in and the waitress was friendly and quick to attend to us. I went for the Roast Beef Ciabatta with Horseradish Mayo and my colleagues both went for the Cherry Tomato, Spinach & Sweet Potato Omelette. As you know, I like to keep my food miles down and am a fan of eating locally sourced foods so I was especially pleased to know that they can trace all of their meat back to a couple of farms in Leicestershire and Derbyshire.
My ciabatta was gorgeous – the beef was rare and very tender, a real change from the chewy stringy beef you often find in pub beef sarnies. The horseradish mayo was just the right level of spicy and the salad and hand cooked crisps made a nice addition to the plate.
The omelettes looked delicious too, slightly runny and packed full of sweet potato and baby cherry tomatoes. One of my colleagues wanted hers cooked a little more and the waitress was very friendly and accommodating. Plus, what a nice item for the lunch menu too, a change and a welcome one at that. A side of sauteed mushrooms in butter and parsley instead of chips was also well cooked and tasty.
Over and out!
Excellent – I reviewed the Oat Hill a couple of years back on my blog and really enjoyed the evening menu. I'd been visiting a friend in Harborough who suggested it and rather patronisingly I'd assumed a suburban pub in Harborough was unlikely to offer much of interest, but I thought it was good quality stuff done with a bit of flair. Glad to hear it's still delivering.
Glad to hear you enjoyed the evening menu, I'm definitely interested to try it. I'll check your blog out too 🙂